The view of Budapest from the Danube is supposedly so beautiful it has
been called the Paris of the East.
It was originally two cities separated by the river: Buda, the city with
high, green hills and Pest (or Pesth) with it's flat banks.

According to one 19th century report(with pictures):
The approach to Pesth is recognized by the number of rafts and barges
moored to the banks, the long rows of clacking water mills, and the rocky
citadel of Buda. This Capital of Hungary consists of two parts; Buda, the
old town on the right bank of the Danube--the residence of the king--and
Pesth on the left bank--the modern rising town, and the seat of the
Hungarian government. They are connected by a grand suspension bridge,
near which the steamers are moored. the early history of Pesth was a
series of disasters; five times it was conquered by the Turks, but was
finally rescued from them by the Duke of Lorraine in 1686. Since that time
it has risen rapidly in prosperity and importance. It is now the finest,
most populous, and most important commercial city of Hungary, and
constantly increasing in extent. These features of thrift are mainly due
to its grain trade. Regent and Bond streets, of Pesth, may vie in the
display of their stores and the elaborately painted signs, with those of
Vienna. These and the streets leading to the bridge concentrate the chief
activity of the population. The other streets and squares have no marked
features, except their size and width, and are often disagreeably dusty,
owing to the location of the town in a sandy plain. The scenes in the
streets give a stranger the mixed impression of splendor and
semi-barbarism.
Buda, (called Ofen or Oven by the Germans, on account of the hot springs
in its neighborhood,) was held by the Turks for a century and a half,
twenty of their mosques being afterward destroyed by the Christians. The
fortress is situated partly on the summit of a commanding rock, 485 feet
above the sea, and is reached from the lower town by a tramway constructed
by the old Count Szechényi. The rails are laid at an angle of 45 degrees,
and the cars are raised by a stationary engine, by means of a wire rope.
There is an ancient shrine on the hill, in the midst of a vineyard, behind
the fort, to which pilgrims come yearly from the farthest part of Asia.

József Szén
was born in Pesth on
September 7, 1805.

He worked as an archivist for the city of Pesth.

He gained a certain amount of recognition when he, along with Johann
Löwenthal, headed a Hungarian team (which included, among others, J.
Oppenheim the Zenner brothers, Vincent Grimm - the club president ) from
Pesth in a correspondence match with Paris between 1842 and 1846 and
scored a shocking 2-0 victory, introducing the Hungarian Defense:
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Be7

The Paris team, Le Cercle des Echecs,
was lead by St. Amant and Chamouillet. Lionel Kieseritsky was orininally
part of the Paris team, but withdrew. Other team members were Calvi,
Devinck, LaRoche and Deschapelles who quit after not getting the opening
he wanted.

Howard Staunton observered: The loss of M. Deschapelles was to be
regretted certainly, but it was of far less import than the secession of
M. Kieseritski (sic) which was irreparable. Another of his fathom they had
not; and it is evident that afterwards they were completely outplayed,
crushed in a manner, by the superior weight and talent of the adverse
band.

On the basis of this correspondence match and probably on recommendation
from Löwenthal, Szén was invited to play in the 1851 London tournament.

Jerry Spinrad also found this news
article in Der Humorist, April 12,
1851:
The archivist of the city of Pesth, Mr. Szén, who demonstrated his mastery
of chess years ago [this refers to an 1836 trip] in a long trip which took
him to the London Chess Club, received an invitation from an English Lord
[Lord Arthur Hay, who, incidentally, acted as a second for Morphy in his
match with Löwenthal, was on the managing committee along with Lord Cremorne and Buckle] to visit the London Industrial Exhibition. At the
same time a proposal was made, to test himself again against a number of
famous English chess players. The Lord assured him in writing of such a
great trust that he was ready to place large sums of money in anticipation
of his victory.